Konoha Year 33, April 1.
The Ninja Academy began a new school year. The graduating sixth-grade students and promoted First Grade students had cleared out vacant classrooms, sending off familiar faces and welcoming unfamiliar ones.
Before anyone realized it, the Crown Prince of Konoha had gone from a freshman to a graduate.
Next March, the Hokage's grandson, who had drawn so much attention and carried the glory of the Senju Clan, would become an official ninja.
Already a Fourth Grade student, Gojo Yoru paid close attention to the Hokage's grandson.
The reason he was so focused on Nawaki was because Nawaki represented an anchor point!
Tsunade's younger brother and the First Hokage's grandson had died at the age of twelve.
The period of his death was during the Second Shinobi World War.
That meant that, if no butterfly storm appeared, the Second Shinobi World War would break out when Nawaki was twelve.
That would be... Konoha Year 35!
Gojo Yoru had another two years, three at most, to grow.
Once Konoha's manpower became insufficient, students from their class could be sent to the battlefield at any time.
Under special circumstances, Genin like them might be led by Jonin or Chunin to take part in battles like the Kannabi Bridge Incident during the Third Shinobi World War.
They could encounter Chunin- or Jonin-level enemies at any moment!
Before the Second Shinobi World War broke out, Gojo Yoru had to possess the strength to deal with such hypothetical situations and Imaginary Enemies.
Walking into the school with both hands in his pockets, he found that aside from the First Grade freshmen, the Ninja Academy students still stopped and moved aside as they had in the past. They did not even dare meet Gojo Yoru's eyes, afraid of provoking this infamous great demon king.
But no one knew that this great demon king was merely a Shadow Clone.
Ever since last year, aside from practical combat classes, Gojo Yoru's real body had not come to the Ninja Academy.
If he had not considered the possibility of being matched against Namikaze Minato, having his Shadow Clone blown apart and exposing his strength, Gojo Yoru would not even have wanted to come to the Ninja Academy.
May 17.
A piece of news shocked the entire Ninja World.
The Uzumaki Clan, distant blood relatives of the Senju Clan who had stood firm for a thousand years since the Warring States Period, whose Fuinjutsu struck fear into the Ninja World and who had been the Senju Clan's capable allies, had actually been wiped out, along with the Land of Whirlpools and Hidden Whirlpool Village they had established overseas!
As the Land of Whirlpools' ally, the Land of Fire had not even had time to react.
That was because the invaders of the Land of Whirlpools were neither the surrounding small overseas nations nor the small countries of the Ninja Continent, but the Four Great Nations apart from the Land of Fire.
Unlike Konoha, which was formed by the Great Ninja Clans of the Warring States Period, the Land of Whirlpools had only members of the Uzumaki Clan and some outsiders.
They did not possess the strength to fight one against four.
Faced with the joint assault of the Four Great Hidden Villages, they had no power to resist at all.
Everyone on the island, whether Uzumaki Clan members or outsiders, was slaughtered without mercy. Their corpses were either burned or submerged by ninjutsu, or packed up and taken away for research.
Very few members survived by chance.
Those who escaped disaster were instead the female clan members who had married outside and abandoned their original surnames.
Fortunately, as Hidden Whirlpool Village's ally, Konoha had always stationed ninja there.
At the earnest request of Hidden Whirlpool Village's higher-ups, the Konoha ninja took away the hope of the Uzumaki Clan and escorted her back to Konoha.
By the time Konoha's reinforcements reached the Land of Whirlpools, the massacre had long since ended. The island was already a complete mess, littered with corpses.
When the news reached Konoha, no one knew how the higher-ups reacted.
However, Gojo Yoru noticed that lately, it had become difficult to spot ninjas wearing green vests on the streets.
Other than the ninja patrolling at night, he also rarely saw afterimages darting over the rooftops.
Clearly, those high-level ninja had all been dispatched.
As for what they had gone out to do, Gojo Yoru did not know, but he could guess.
They were either carrying out certain missions or guarding the border.
The destruction of the Land of Whirlpools was equivalent to a countdown to war.
The Four Great Nations, which had already been bleeding small countries dry and expanding their territory, had now acquired the Uzumaki Clan's thousand-year inheritance. Their strength had soared, and they certainly would not stop there. They would only grow more aggressive.
All it would take was a single spark to set the entire Ninja World ablaze.
As the Uzumaki Clan turned to dust in history, the person Gojo Yoru had waited years for finally arrived in Konoha.
Starting the next day, Gojo Yoru went to the Ninja Academy in person for both academic and practical combat classes, waiting for that figure to appear.
Yet he waited until the second semester, in September.
Clearly, the fall of the Land of Whirlpools had dealt Uzumaki Kushina too great a blow.
If not for the comfort of the legendary clan member Uzumaki Mito, Uzumaki Kushina might have "gone dark" like Second Pillar, living in hatred every day and becoming an avenger.
However, simple-minded Uzumaki Kushina did not realize that she was being brainwashed by "love," treated as a vessel by this village's higher-ups.
If no one pulled her out of the sea of fire, then after Uzumaki Mito, her support, died, her future life would be spent under surveillance.
The area where she could move would forever be limited to a designated range. Unless the village faced a crisis and needed the power of the Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Kushina would not be able to leave Konoha.
"Tsk, tsk... so it really was a conspiracy theory. Politicians truly do have black hearts."
On Hokage Rock, Gojo Yoru sat by the cliff's edge, looking down at the beautiful village below with mocking eyes.
At that moment, Gojo Yoru finally understood how the Jinchuriki felt.
No wonder those Jinchuriki all became psychologically twisted. Even the younger brother of the Five Kage could not integrate into his village.
The methods of these hidden village higher-ups were simply too extreme. Anyone would be chilled by them.
Gojo Yoru had originally been curious as to why Konoha during this period did not have the barrier from later generations. He had thought it simply had not yet been obtained or developed.
He had not expected Konoha's barrier to have been born because of Uzumaki Kushina!
Although it did not yet cover the entire village, Gojo Yoru, who often used Space-Time Ninjutsu to travel underground and leave Konoha, could now see a vortex-shaped barrier enveloping all of Konoha's Central Street, almost as if his eyes were the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan.
Gojo Yoru was no stranger to this barrier. It was precisely the barrier Konoha used in Minato's story to monitor Uzumaki Kushina.
He had not expected this barrier to appear so soon.
That was why Gojo Yoru felt such emotion.
The original chapter where Uzumaki Kushina was rescued by Namikaze Minato had always been heavily criticized, with people claiming it was a conspiracy.
The reason was that Uzumaki Kushina, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, had been so easily kidnapped by Cloud Ninja, who then left the border on foot.
Throughout the entire process, not a single person was in the huge mansion. The Cloud Ninja precisely located Uzumaki Kushina, were not discovered by patrolling ninja when they left, and no Anbu monitored or protected Uzumaki Kushina after she had become a Jinchuriki. Konoha also seemed to have no barrier. Only Namikaze Minato, who happened to be wandering outside late that night, followed the clues Uzumaki Kushina had left behind.
After being rescued by her hero, Uzumaki Kushina finally formed a bond in Konoha and became willing to live in this village.
Now, it seemed this truly had been a setup arranged by the higher-ups.
Moreover, the method was exactly the same as when Sarutobi Hiruzen used Mizuki at the start of the story to deepen the bond between Umino Iruka and Uzumaki Naruto.
Clearly, the person manipulating everything behind the scenes was the Third Hokage.
This discovery made Gojo Yoru feel both ironic and completely relieved.
Namikaze Minato had been qualified to become a piece in that scheme because of his affection for Uzumaki Kushina, his powerful talent, and his status as Jiraiya's disciple.
Now that Gojo Yoru had gained Orochimaru's investment and possessed equally powerful talent, he was also qualified to become that piece.
Combined with several years of groundwork specifically meant to shape an antisocial persona, Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina developing mutual affection would be equivalent to saving each other. Sarutobi Hiruzen would surely be even happier to see that.
"It's settled. Next comes showtime." Gojo Yoru's lips curled slightly, then he rose and vanished with Body Flicker.
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